Diggers leave Iraq after six years

Australia has officially ended its six-year military presence in Iraq three days
ahead of the deadline.

The honour of being the last digger to leave the strife-torn country went to
Corporal Don Mander.
He stepped aboard an RAAF C-130 Hercules transport aircraft at Baghdad International
Airport on Tuesday afternoon, the last of 12 Australian personnel embedded within US
units operating in Baghdad.
Under an agreement negotiated with the Iraq government late last year, all
Australian troops remaining inside Iraq had to be gone by July 31.
The exception is the security detachment, known as SECDET, comprising about 100
soldiers with armoured vehicles who guard the embassy and transport diplomats and
officials around the Iraq capital.
They will remain in place for the foreseeable future under separate diplomatic
agreements.
Australia's commander in the Middle East Mark Kelly flew to Baghdad at the weekend
to oversee the final withdrawal.
Australia's mission started in March 2003 when Special Air Service Regiment soldiers
infiltrated Iraq's western desert, slightly ahead of official hostilities.
Major General Kelly said the coalition commanders he visited were full of praise for
Australia's contribution.
With the withdrawal of the battlegroup from southern Iraq last year, numbers of
embedded Australian personnel dwindled from 100 to about 45 at the start of the year
and a dozen at the end.
All were embedded with various coalition units including the counter-improvised
explosive device taskforce and the intelligence centre.
The Aussies were farewelled with flag-lowering ceremonies, and at what was called
Aussie island - where Australian personnel lived for the past six years - the flag
was officially lowered for the last time.
Major General Kelly said the last Australian out was Corporal Mander, from Brisbane,
a member of the small administrative team supporting the embedded personnel.
"Don was the last guy to step onto the ramp of the aircraft as we brought them out,"
he said.
"It was a nice little touch to allow him to be that guy."
The drawdown of Australian personnel had been undertaken progressively since last
year and included the redeployment of a warship from the top of the Persian Gulf.
That ship, currently HMAS Toowoomba, now works with US task groups in the central
Gulf and northern Indian Ocean region.
Major General Kelly said SECDET personnel still had important work, even in the more
benign security environment, with increased diplomatic engagement with the Iraq
government taking them to more distant locations.
SECDET's security posture remains under constant review, he said.